The Canadian team stood out as one of the top teams at the games on night one. The Canadians medalled in every single event, and showed that they’re in it to win it at home.
Here are the top five reasons why Team Canada dominated tonight’s session.
1. CHANTAL VAN LANDEGHEM BREAKS CANADIAN RECORD AND BEATS NATALIE COUGHLIN
Chantal Van Landeghem broke a huge Canadian record on the first night of competition to kick off the Pan Am Games. In the first event, she took down Coughlin’s hours old Games record and became the first Canadian to ever dip under 54-seconds in the 100m freestyle.
That also gave team Canada their first gold of the games and got things rolling.
To see a more detailed report click here.
2. ZACK CHETRAT BREAKS 200m FLY CANADIAN RECORD
Zack Chetrat has been vying for the Canadian record in the 200m fly for some time now. As the Canadian king of the 200 fly in recent years, he finally managed to break the mark and become the first Canadian under 1:57.
Chetrat did it in his home pool as well, adding more maple icing to the top of the cake.
To see a more detailed report click here.
3. CANADIAN WOMEN BREAK 4x100m FREESTYLE NATIONAL RECORD
Showing off their depth, the Canadian women went neck-and-neck with the American 4x100m freestyle relay and came out on top. New Canadian record holder in the 100m freestyle, Chantal Van Landeghem, put together a great last 100 to chase down Natalie Coughlin and help Canada take the gold.
In the process, they broke the record which they set at the 2013 World Championships. Two of the girls who were on the 2013 swam tonight.
To see a more detailed report click here.
4. SANTO CONDORELLI TIES FOR FASTEST MAN IN THE WORLD THIS SEASON
Santo Condorelli showed off the big guns for Canada leading off the 4x100m freestyle relay. For the first time since Brent Hayden swam, a Canadian swimmer dipped under 48-seconds in the 100m freestyle.
Condorelli rocked a 47.98 tying him as the fastest man in the world this season. Going into the World Championships, both he and Russia’s Vladamir Morozov will be the only ones under 48-seconds since last season.
2014-2015 LCM Men 100 Free
NING
47.84
View Top 28»2 Cameron
McEVOYAUS 47.94 08/05 3 Vladimir
MOROZOVRUS 47.98 04/19 3 Santo
CONDORELLICAN 47.98 07/14 5 Federico
GRABICHARG 48.11 07/14
5. CANADIAN WOMEN WIN EVERY SINGLE GOLD MEDAL
With Chantal Van Landeghem winning the 100m freestyle, the Canadian women winning the 4x100m freestyle relay, and Canadian Audrey Lacroix taking home the 200m fly, the Canadian women won every single on night one of the Pan Am Games.
Tomorrow the women will contest the 200m breaststroke and 200m backstroke. A Canadian swimmer is the favourite in both of those events.
The truth is Canada did well for Canada while the US has not come prepared. The US women went 3:32.3 at Worlds in 2013 with their in-form A team. That time would have beaten their competition by 4.5 seconds. A huge margin. Keep in mind that what you saw was the Canadian A team setting their national record. More daunting is the fact that you can pretty much on it that Australia has a fair chance of going sub 3:30 at Worlds, a 7 second difference – really huge.
Good for Canada and even better for Brazil who broke their national record by nearly 4 seconds! More depth can only be better for the sport.
That’s a very fair statement Victor. But the fact is that with the exception of Audrey Lacroix, this is also a very young Canadian team. Canada has a history of chocking in big events. Those days are gone. Canada has invested a lot in swimming over the last few years with center of excellence in Montreal, Toronto and Victoria. The future is very bright indeed.
Looks like I didn’t convey it right…the Canadians arrived ready and focused for big performances and delivered on it. Absolutely some world class swims so far. On the U.S. side only a few individual performances stand out so far.
6. Canadians read SwimSwam!
I think it’s also true that these are the best swimmers in Canada which certainly can not be said for the American team. Be that as it may, the Canadians have swum great and put on a terrific show for their home fans.
All of the Canadians have performed from above to well above expectations. Be it great preparation, home cooking, a huge shot of adrenaline from the crowd, their performances have been superior to the opposition here, but to
state that they will repeat those in Kazan and/or rio is a huge over statement!
Although that is definitely true, Joel, you cant argue with the fact that the times Canada put up tonight are truly world class. They may have dominated a relatively weak competition, but those times are competitive at any meet in the world at any time of year, and those athletes will be in the mix in a few weeks at the World Championships
Just seems like the Canadians are invested in this meet and focused on big peak performances here. U.S. team, not so much.
You can say that if you want to, but the reality is that three of the four girls on the US 400 freestyle relay are Olympic medalists in the event, and none of them are going to Worlds, so this is their peak meet for the season. Canada showed up ready to swim, and beat a heavily-favored team fair and square.
I think tonight was the spark Canadian swimming needed to see that they can compete with the world, and in the future when they have kids back on Olympic podiums, they’ll be able to point to this meet as the catalyst.